


A talk in the Garden

by DorkWingsRise



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU: Chloé never loses Pollen and season 2 redemption arc eventually succeeds, Aged Up, F/F, Trigger warning: past violence/war/scarring/flashbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23505082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DorkWingsRise/pseuds/DorkWingsRise
Summary: A sunny afternoon in the Agreste garden brings Rose and Chloé together for talk during which much is revealed.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	A talk in the Garden

“Chloé?”

Light blue eyes fluttering open, the heiress sat up with a start.“Rose?Hi!I must have fallen asleep in the sun.”

“Do you sit here often?I never knew this garden existed.It is amazing.”

“I grew up in this garden,” said Chloé with a warm smile.Adrien’s mother used to sit right here on this bench, reading scripts, while Adrien and I played.”Chloé laughed.“I mean, we were babies.These are some of my earliest memories.”

“You loved her.”

“I did.I do.I always will.So, yeah, on sunny days I try to spend at least a bit of time in this garden.She’s been gone all these years but still somehow makes everything feel a bit better for me.”

“Should I leave you—”

“No, Rose, please, sit.I can’t remember the last time we talked.Which is silly.There are so few of us left in Paris.”

“Well, you’ve been a bit of a hermit since Lycée, Chloé.Maybe I have too.I spent a lot of time buried in a lab getting my biochem degree.”

“I always thought you’d be a writer.Or a musician like Juleka.It’s still a jolt to think of you as a scientist.A cool jolt, though.I admire you for fighting through for your degree.”

“Thanks, Chloé.Honestly, it wasn’t that much of a fight.Once I decided to follow my passion and become a perfumer, the biochem bit was a given.I have a very discerning nose, but I’m not a super-smeller.I’m not pushing the boundaries of biochemical research, but I can more than hold my own in a lab.I should be able to craft some scents that make girls go weak in the knees.”

“Not the boys?”

“Boys are too easy, Chloé, and still not worth the effort.”

“Oh my god, Rose, please don’t ever change.”

“Ha!I’m kind of wondering though, Chloé, what are you wearing right now?At first I thought it was something here in the garden but then I picked up some non-botanicals;and now I just really want to snuggle in and bury my face in your neck.”

“If you snuggle in, you are on your own.Or I can tell you, but —”Chloé let the sentence trail off with a small shrug.“What do you want more, the experience or the knowledge?

“I’m pretty sure if I can get a good sniff, I can guess.Or if I can’t guess, I bet I can re-create it.I have a pretty good idea about how this was constructed already, but I’m missing important data here.Plus, I’ve been secretly hoping for a snuggle with you since Collège Françoise Dupont; so I’ll pick the experience, please.”

“Wait, since collège?I was a total shit to you back then.Plus you and Juleka—”

“Juleka and I always knew that we weren’t, like, soul partners.Well, not romantically at least.We always talked about one day finding that magic that Marinette and Adrien have.And, yes, you were horrible, and half the time I didn’t know if I was going to cry or kick you in the knee.But even when I was furious at you?I wanted you.You and your stupid perfect ass and those stupid tight skirts.Besides, we got you back pretty good.”

“You got me back?Why do I not remember this?When did you get me back?”

Rose dissolved in to laughter.“You still don’t know.Oh this is so, so good,Juleka is going to love this.OK.Remember that first time you made fun of my perfume experiment?”

“I do.And I am so, so sorry.I actually really liked that scent on you.”

“Chloé!We put all of that behind us years ago.Stop apologizing.It’s fine.Anyway, after that, we hatched a plan.What did you think about my experiments after that?”

Chloé blushed. "Um, I might not have really understood what you were trying to do?I think I was a little confused.”

“It’s ok to say it, Chloé, that stuff smelled awful.I know because Juleka and I created it to smell awful.”

“But everyone seemed to really like it!I just couldn’t—”

“You weren’t smelling what they smelled.When I walked past you I’d crack open a tiny sample of the nasty stuff and waft it your way.Everyone else smelled something like rose and green tea.You were smelling old egg and vinegar.”

“Evil!You are so evil!I never knew.Ugh.Poor Sabrina.You know you smell-bombed her too.”

“I guess we’ll have to let her in on the secret then.Anyway, I felt like Juleka and I were holding our own in that battle. And that left me free to ogle your butt.Which I apologize for.I completely objectified you. Sorry.”

“Apology not needed, so not accepted.My, how did you put it, “stupid perfect ass” is flattered.”

“I’m kind of mortified that I just confessed that to you.I knew it was always going to be a one way attraction.I guess if I had to fall for a straight girl, at least I had good taste.”

“I’m not exactly straight, Rose.”

“What?”

“I figured that out the first 2 minutes of cosplaying with Sabrina.”

“I never knew!Sabrina never talks about those times.I mean, she’s been out for years, but I never thought that you two were involved that way.”

“Because we were a great big toxic mess?I don’t know what exactly we were to one another — we were both so broken — but it would be disrespectful to whitewash over the significant stuff.Sabrina was my first everything, and I still treasure the good parts of what we had.”

“I never knew.”

“No one ever asks.I’m open about my sexuality, or at least I am now.But I don’t date and no one has ever asked me so no one knows.It doesn’t help that Pride is a peak event atLe Grand Paris and I’m working round the clock during that time.”

“Let’s fix all of this.First, you are hiring some good people and delegating more and coming to Pride with us.Second, why do you not date.There is no more eligible or gorgeous woman in Paris than you.Not to push you.If you aren’t ready to date, then I get it.If you don’t want to talk about it, then I get that too.But help me out here, Chloé.”

“I think—”Chloé let her words trail off as she collected her thoughts.“It was hard for a long time.I had a lot of trust issues and anger to put to bed.But I feel pretty whole these days.I think I am ready to date.I find the whole thing to be a bit scary, honestly; and I know that is ridiculous, but, yeah, I am a bit scared.The hard part is that I’m invisible.Everyone sees the hero in the suit and their idealized version of some really gritty and ugly events.Which, I get.I was that way with Ladybug.I’m stunned that she doesn’t hate me.But I’ve been thrown in to electrical substations.I’ve been thrown through entire buildings.I can’t talk to people about how cool it is to be a hero when I’ve felt my body fall apart around me, and when I’ve known that if we lose Ladybug and she can’t unleash her Cure, that I’ll just be one of thousands of lights blinking out.Sorry.This is gloomy.Rose?Rose?”

Rose was shaking on the bench and curling in on herself. Chloe spoke very gently.“Rose, this is Chloé. I am right here with you in Adrien’s garden in Paris. This is a safe place.If you can open your eyes, it is sunny and lovely here.It smells so good here.Can you tell me twopretty things that you smell?”

Rose opened her eyes after a few minutes of soothing talk and looked at Chloé.“I’m OK.This isn’t that bad, really.Just give me a bit.”

“No rush, Rose.Just breathe and feel the warm sun.I’ve got you.Can you tell me what you smell?”

“Two pretty things, right?The roses near the wall.I can smell them on the breeze.And you.You still smell amazing.”

“It’s Gabriel #4.”

“Oh my God, Chloé do not fuck with me right now.Gabriel #4 never went to production.Everyone knows this.”

“You are right, but I’m not fucking with you Rose.When the shouting was over and the team was fired and shown the door, there were 10 bottles in Gabriel’s office.I took them.I only ever wear it for Emilie when I come to her garden.”

“When I catch my breath, I might have to kick you in the knee, damnit.”

“I mean, if you really need to, you can this once.But if you’d rather come get a hug that would be OK, too.”

“Thanks for having my back, Chloe.I’m going to take you up on that hug.But you should know that I’m a bit sweaty from—”

“No worries.I know how it is.C’mere, Rose.”

“How did I not know you were just a good hugger, Cloé?”

“Secret skills.All the best girls have them.”

“I’m not even going to bury my face in your neck.”

“Come by my suite sometime and you can scent from the bottle.”

“Oh!Thank you.I wasn’t even thinking about Gabriel #4 just then.I’m more worried that if I get too close to your skin I am going to do something that leaves a mark.”

“I’m going to assume this is just you coming back from that flashback.”

“It really isn’t.”

“I know.”Chloé held Rose a bit closer, running her hand slowly up and down her back.“You don’t ever have to talk to me about it, but if you ever want to, I’m here for you.”

Rose sighed and sat back a bit so that she could look Chloé in the eye.“I haven’t ever really talked about it with any of my friends.It is the one secret that I’ve kept from Juleka.Not even for a good reason.I guess I just didn’t want to upset people over something that had already happened. I had thought I was over the flashbacks.I might need to rethink.”

“You have as much time as you need.But if you can, worry less about upsetting the people who love you. “

“Yeah.”Rose slid back into Chloé’s hug.“I was shot.Three words.It seems like it should be a lot more than three words.Oh!Keep touching my hair like that.So I had finished the research for my degree either a bit late or a lot early, and I had the summer free.I was talking to Prince Ali and he asked if I wanted to help out on a project.He was donating a lab to MSF and he needed someone to coordinate the handoff and set up in the field and maybe help out as a technician.Sounded fun, so I went.And it was amazing.A bit scary because MSF was fighting hemorrhagic fever, and the extent of the outbreak had a lot to do with a regional civil war.But I kind of loved it.Anyway,we were set up in a few buildings in a neutral area.But overnight the map changed, andone of our buildings was no longer on neutral ground, and MSF and UN teams were both banned.Chloé, there were 4 patients in that building who weren’t contagious but who needed attention for other conditions.So I moved them.”

“You moved them?”

“Well, I moved three of them.I was moving the fourth when some asshole shot me.I was lucky, I guess.I mean, if you are going to get shot, do it with a team of experienced field surgeons around you. But it was kind of bad.The bullet went right through my lung.And they had to put in a breathing tube, so besides the entry and exit wounds, I have these long scarson my torso and side from that.But I healed up pretty fast.And by the time I got home, I seemed fine. It was getting cold by then so no one asked why I was avoiding the beach.”

“Damn, Rose!But you are OK, right?”

“Sure.I had to rehab and once I was cleared I had to keep working out to get my strength back.I have lats now; I didn’t really before.But I don’t think I’ll ever get back my love of bikini season. That is a bit hard.I sort of have a thing—”

“You are a complete exhibitionist, Rose.Everyone knows this.”

“Yeah.I freaking loved it. I dunno. It sounds silly, but that’s been the hardest thing to sort out for me.”

“The tiny skirts aren’t enough?”

“When you look at my legs like that, I do feel pretty good about my tiny skirt.Look, Chloé,I’m actually here for some sort of mysterious business meeting with Adrien and Marinette.So I gotta get moving.But I will never forget you for being here for me today.It means a lot. And no matter what else happens,I’m going to find out who maintains your calendar and we will be getting together regularly.Including Pride, damnit.”

Chloé laughed.“Fine, fine.I’d love to see more of you.”

“Good.Because, look, I know today has been a mess.But the way that Marinette lights up when Adrien walks in the room? That’s me when I see you.So think about it.I mean, don’t leave a girl out on a limb; but think about it.And maybe ask me out when you are done thinking.We’ll be fine no matter what you decide.Like I said, I’ve always thought there was no chance with you, anyway.Just…you don’t get to break my heart, ok?”

Then Rose captured Chloé’s mouth in a kiss — not a long kiss but certainly more than a peck — and disappeared up the path to the Agreste Mansion’s front door, leaving a stunned Chloé Bourgeois in her wake. 


End file.
